THE PEACOCK [A FABLE FOR KIDS]
In the land of the birds, the aged king Eagle assembled all the young birds for a meeting; he was well advanced in years but had no successor. He was so worried about what to do. For days, He thought about who would take over his throne; it wasn’t going to be an easy one, selecting a new heir to the throne from amongst the young birds who were out there. He finally decided on what to do.
“I have no son to succeed me after I am gone,” he said, amidst murmurings and discussions from different corners.
“One of you will be my successor; one of you will be the next king of the land,” he said.
On hearing this, the young birds chattered excitedly, asking themselves who it could be. The peacock and his friend Kite, sat at a corner discussing in low tones; “how does he plan to do it?” The Kite asked the peacock who seemed to be silent and pondering in thoughts.
“Well I know I can never be the king, I look so tiny” the peacock replied.
The kite laughed at him; “Of course my friend, you will have to beat the Falcon and other strong birds to be the next king. Can you do that?
Meanwhile, the Falcon sat in another corner with his friends; they laughed and spoke in high voices. The Falcon had spread out its large wings in pride. He strongly believed that he would be chosen as the next king because of how beautiful and huge its feathers were.
His friends hailed him and were already composing praise songs for him.
“Quiet!” King Eagle intervened, and there was silence.
“The one who passes the test completely shall be crowned king,” he said.
King Eagle instructed them to go home and assemble in two weeks. But before they left, he gave each of them an egg.
He instructed them to take care of it and also told them that it would hatch before the next meeting. They were to come with the new bird.
Outside the palace, the Falcon paraded himself around the community with his friends; they went from house to house intimidating other birds and subtly tried to make them take their minds off the throne.
The Peacock took great care of his egg and smiled each morning whenever he looked at it. His parents were so proud of him; they were highly impressed with the way he took great care of his egg.
At night, he would sing melodious songs for the egg as if it were his brother.
A few days before the great assembly at the king's palace, the Falcon and his friends visited the Peacock.
“Who is at the door please?” The Peacock asked calmly, but the banging persisted and even became louder. The visitors knew that the parents of the Peacock were not home, so they banged even louder.
When the Peacock opened the door, the Falcon and his friends pushed him aside and quickly went to his room; they searched for his egg so that they would break it. But the Peacock being smart enough, had hidden it inside a pile of clothes before coming to open the door.
“You fellow, where’s the egg” the Falcon said, holding the Peacock by the neck. Soon they left the house, after telling him that the throne belonged to the Falcon. The sad and sullen Peacock sat on his bed feeling so bad; he pulled out his egg from where he had hidden it.
“I know that the throne was never meant for me, but I promise to return you safely to the king” he said and placed the egg carefully on his chest.
Soon, the Peacock became worried when he found out that the egg hadn’t hatched. It was a day to the great assembly at the king’s palace and the egg was yet to hatch. He became so worried and scared. He wondered what could be wrong with the egg. He decided to sing one more time for the egg and see if it would hatch, but nothing happened.
“Well, I have no choice but to return you to the king the same way you are,” he said to the egg.
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The next day, the king’s palace was crowded. All the young birds had brought their hatched eggs to the king Eagle. The Peacock watched in shock as all the birds stood happily with their hatched eggs containing tiny and beautiful baby birds. The Falcon stood close to the Peacock, who stood shamefully with its unhatched egg. The Falcon volunteered to be the first to submit its hatched egg; the baby bird was so beautiful and nice looking. On returning to its spot, the Falcon pushed the Peacock who almost lost its grip on the egg which it carried. Everyone burst into laughter.
Soon it was time for the Peacock to submit its hatched egg. It walked up to the king, shivering and ready to be scolded.
“You’ve done well,” the king said and collected the egg from the Peacock.
The Peacock wondered why the king calmly replied to him. He shrugged and went back to its spot.
“Only one of you Passed the first test” the king said, a few minutes later when they had all settled down. On hearing this, the friends of the Falcon began to clap for him believing he was the one; they hailed him so much that other birds were discouraged and were forced to believe that he was the one that had passed the test.
“The person will be identified and crowned the next king of this land after our final test” the King Eagle said.
“For you to be a king and a leader, you should know how to fly, therefore there’ll be a flight competition between all of you in two weeks,” the king eagle said. The young birds murmured; some, in excitement, others, in sadness.
“Well I know I can’t fly so well, anyways I’ll try my best” the Sad Peacock said to himself.
Meanwhile, the Falcon laughed and laughed, it was already used to flying and felt so confident that no bird could beat him.
The king gave them two weeks to prepare for the grand finale of the test.
During that period, the Falcon and many other birds who had great wings and could fly, all drank and celebrated their presumed success. There was no need to practice how to fly; they were already used to it.
Meanwhile, back at home; the Peacock trained himself gradually on how to fly a great distance.
By the end of the two weeks, they all assembled for the great flight competition.
Once it was time to move, they all took off. Almost immediately, there was a shout of distress some distance below the flying birds.
“Help me! Help me!” It was a strange voice; no one had heard such a voice before
None of them seemed to be interested to know who was shouting and why; they struggled to see who would finish first. As soon as the Peacock heard the sound, he said to himself;
“Well even if I don’t win this competition, I’ll be glad to help” and with that, it descended to render help. Soon, the Peacock located where the voice was coming from, he traced the voice to a bush close by. Behold, it was the King Eagle; he was trying to test them.
“The atmosphere is not conducive for flying, none of them will reach the finish line because I cast a spell which will affect them all except anyone who descends to locate me from where I shouted. Then the Eagle king gave him a cup filled with a concoction;
“Drink this, and you shall not be affected by the spell.” He said to the Peacock. And after drinking the concoction, the peacock ascended.
Higher and higher it went, to the surprise of other birds and soon, it reached the finish line.
The falcon flew with great strength and vigour but couldn’t maintain its height, not to talk of going far. It was feeling so heavy. All other birds struggled to flap their wings but found it difficult to. They were all feeling heavy and weak; they gradually descended.
After the final test, the king gathered them all.
“I tested you all on honesty and hospitality,” he said and continued;
“A true leader should be honest and none of you passed the first test except the Peacock” he went further to explain that he gave them boiled eggs which were not meant to hatch.
They all covered their faces in shame as they recalled what they had done. The Falcon remembered that he had swapped his eggs with another one, so did the other birds.
“I shouted for help because I was holding the key to winning the flight race, but none of you cared to know what the problem was, except the Peacock.
He removed his crown of glory and placed it on the beautiful-looking Peacock.
“Your character is as handsome as your wings,” he said and crowned the peacock the new king.
Moral: In whatever you do, always be determined and don’t forget that honesty and Selflessness can take you a long way.
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